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Now the Mayor and Councillor Lana Orr, Cabinet member for employment and skills, warn the closures will hurt Liverpool’s poorest and say the Government must reconsider its position.

And they are concerned that Liverpool is being targeted for jobcentre closures despite its high unemployment rates.

Councillor Lana Orr

They say: “We also note that the closure of local job centres will have a detrimental impact upon those reliant on job centre support to find work.

“For people on extremely low incomes, the extra cost of travelling to more distant job centres will be prohibitive and, whilst we appreciate many customers may use online services, the very poorest in our communities continue to suffer from digital exclusion.”

Cllr Orr called the closure bid “an ill thought through plan that will hit the most vulnerable in the city”.

She said: “The closure of these centres means that residents in most of north Liverpool, where claimant rates are highest, will have no job centre. How can that be right?”

Cllr Orr said the council’s plan to move the Williamson Square jobcentre into St Johns Market was an example of how jobcentre facilities could be saved without inconveniencing residents.

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She said: “There is no doubt that the closures will cause greater hardship for our poorest residents who use these centres.

“This means that people who currently walk to a job centre will have to take two buses – money they can ill afford when they are already struggling to make ends meet.

“It is the Government which insists that people come to Job Centres for appointments, and threatens them with benefit sanctions if they don’t. By making them travel further – in some cases two bus rides – it put them at greater risk of being late to their appointment and therefore of being penalised.”